Zingerman's Deli

Second share from my night of sad steak.

Zingerman's (deli and marketplace) is always a favorite, but I save it as a special treat. Not to mention it's an Ann Arbor landmark. Apparently people get it delivered across the country, so I guess I'm pretty lucky to have it a stone's throw away.

There are often samples given out at the front door, usually of the special salads offered that day (by special I mean salads not on the menu). The store itself is small, which lends itself to being very cozy and personal. To the left are cheeses and meats, and the employees are always willing to offer their expertise and let you try whatever you want. To the right is the bakery booth (for lack of better words) where you can buy breads and pastries brought in from the Bakehouse (next to which is also located the Creamery). To the front are salads and where you place your sandwich orders. Continue on to the right past the bakery where you'll find the register and a trove of goodies - high quality olive oil and vinegars (samples of which are set out with bread for tasting and an employee that actually knows what he/she is talking about), condiments, pastas, sweets, and more.

Next door is... Zingerman's Next Door, appropriately named. Here, you can find coffee, tea, desserts, chocolate, ice cream, and affogato. Between the two is a deck/patio with tables and benches where you can sit and enjoy your food and company. One of the areas is also tented so you can still have a good time if it starts to rain. There is also plenty of seating Next Door, so don't let the tight space of the Deli scare you into thinking you need to get your food to go.

My go-to sammies: Bob & Roz's Fiesta and Tarb's Tenacious Tenure. Bob & Roz's Fiesta is chicken on lettuce with tomato and meunster cheese, roasted green chiles, and a great roasted red pepper sauce. Tarb's Tenacious Tenure is turkey with meunster cheese, lettuce, tomato, Russian dressing, and - the best part - avocado. Their sandwich menu covers everything from corned beef to fish to hot dogs, using quality ingredients including free-range chicken and all-natural turkey. They also have a small part of the menu dedicated to Jewish foods.

But what I really want to gush about is the best mac and cheese EVER!!! Ever. My guess is the Vermont cheddar. Actually, I don't know what it is. What I do know is that it's divine. Like... little macaroni sprites dancing on my tongue in an aromatic breeze of spices and cheese. That didn't come out quite as poetic as I had intended. Take-home message: it's amazing! Must try!

Next on the wish list: Zingerman's Roadhouse! Yummers!!!

$-$$

www.zingermansdeli.com

14K / Cafe Japone

As of late, it has become tradition for JC and me to go to happy hour on Wednesdays. So without fail, we scampered out of work, super excited for a cheap drink and cheap snacks. First stop was 14K, on 14th St NW and K St NW - their huge "rush hour happy hour" sign caught my eye. In addition to happy hour, they were advertising 5:00pm - 7:00pm, get 2 entrees and receive a bottle of wine, which is a pretty awesome deal, we thought. However, we had happy hour hopping in mind, so we headed to the bar. I got a huge cold glass of Blue Moon and JC got a glass of sauvignon blanc to sip on as we waited for our artisan cheese plate. I'm pretty sure we didn't get the cheese that are listed on the menu, as I know and love Humbolt Fog (goat cheese) and it was definitely absent. However, it was a wonderful assembly of crumbly and soft cheeses served with slices of some kind of berry and nut bread, apples, figs, and strawberries. As we devoured the plate, I started craving sushi (I know, how Asian, right?). For 2 glasses of wine, a beer, and the cheese plate, we paid about $20, which we thought was awesome.

Then we ran across the street to Lotus, as we had heard that they have sushi happy hours there. As we headed downstairs into the lounge, we realize how eerily empty it was...we took a quick look around and then ran back out - in true JC and Jung-Ah fashion, running in our heels and giggling.

Next stop, Cafe Japone since their happy hour went on til 8:30pm! I had very little to no expectations as I had read reviews and most of them were about how awful the service is there. There were praises about their food and huge Sapporos, though. We found an awesome parking space right outside the restaurant and went inside, thirsty for a beer. The girl that greeted us was very nice and sat us right away, however we sat there for a long time and finally had to flag down a server to take our drink orders. She didn't give us attitude though, there were only 2 servers for the whole place, and I guess they were busy. We received our $3, 22oz bottles of Sapporo right away, which made us happy during the million hours we had to wait for our sushi while drunk Facebooking and Twittering. Finally our yellowtail with scallions, spicy tuna, california, and crispy salmon skin rolls arrived. I don't know why we keep getting yellowtail rolls, because everytime we get it, we're like meh, it's not that great, YET we ALWAYS get them. The spicy tuna were very spicy and very tasty - I prefer the ones I had at Saki to these, but these were pretty awesome. The california roll was what I expected, tasty in the fake, american kind of way. The crispy salmon skin roll was intense - the salmon skin was super crispy, super salty and very pungent. I liked it alot, but it was just a bit much on the saltiness. After 3 of the 22oz Sapporo, not to mention what we had prior to coming to Japone, we were drunk. And we thought we could eat more, so we ordered their ramen with pork bone broth. As we waited another million hours for the ramen, the table across the restaurant started off Karaoke night. They were a fun group and sang and danced together and it was all good fun. In the midst of all this fun, we got our ramen, and I must recommend this highly. Oh my gosh, it was nothing like the ramen in packages that you get for 55cents at the grocery store. The noodles were chewy and yummy, and the broth was rich and flavorful with a hint of sesame oil. Sooooo good. And soooo big. We ate, sang, danced, and drank. Before we knew it, it was 11:00pm. Another happy hour success!! Tasty tasty!!!

14K $
www.14krestaurant.com

Cafe Japone $$

Tokyo One

I made myself an unsatisfactory steak with onions and mushrooms for dinner tonight. I didn't know that was possible. I figure any piece of meat presented to me is heaven on a plate. After that unfortunate meal, I'm now looking to treat myself to some Mexican wedding cookies. However... the dough has been in the fridge since yesterday and is now rock hard. So I'm sitting here... watching the dough... giving it the death glare. Hopefully the heat from my gaze will make it thaw faster.

While I was gnawing away at my tough steak, cartoon bubbles floated from my head with images of foods I'd rather be eating, two of which I'll share with you.

Tokyo One is a nice sushi/grill/buffet, not one of those 3.99 all-you-can-eat rib joints on the corner. For $27.99 at dinner, you get the bar, a full sushi bar, soba and udon noodle station, salads, hot foods, fruits and dessert, etc. The full menu would go on for pages - you can see the menu with pictures on the website. But I suggest you don't fill up on those too quick because the star of the show is the Dungeness crab. They're HUGE! A whole crab is the size of my hand!!. Oh my gosh, and soooo delicious!! They're perfectly tender, sweet, juicy. They're not the same as the crab in Maryland that we've talked about before. No seasoning. No butter. Just pure, delicious crab. And it's always fun when you get to pull out and enjoy a huge chunk of crabmeat and not have to fuss with tiny legs and the bother with the complicated compartments of the body of a smaller crab. Drool. Don't even try to keep your hands clean. Just dig in and get messy. It's so worth it! And besides, that's what the bathrooms are for: so you can wash your hands when you're ready. Mind you, the other patrons are probably going to be crazy about the crabs as well. At the Sam Houston Pkwy location, people nonchalantly hang around the buffet pretending to be looking at other items, and when the server brings out a new batch of hot, steaming crabs, there is a mad rush for the crab. A wild stampede and hands boxing through each other to grab the crabs first. I literally had a woman take a crab from my hand. Rude. So what we did was make eyes with one of the cooks in the back and ask him to bring us some fresh crab. Accompanied by batting of the eyelashes. Success: fresh hot crab without the fight.

At the Greens Rd location, you don't have to race for the crab. You won't find crab at the buffet; you order it with your server and they'll bring it right to your table. For some reason... we enjoyed the Sam Houston location better, both environment and taste. But still... Yummers!!!

$$

www.tokyo-one.com